Reflections on a Shared Name: Taboo and Destiny in Mayong (Assam)
This article explores the cosmological entailments of a minor verbal taboo in Mayong (Central Assam). In brief, individuals who share personal names are forbidden from addressing or referring to each other by name, and instead must interpellate each other as mita (friend). Through an analysis of nam...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud
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| Series: | South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/4027 |
| _version_ | 1797316312214536192 |
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| author | Sean Dowdy |
| author_facet | Sean Dowdy |
| author_sort | Sean Dowdy |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article explores the cosmological entailments of a minor verbal taboo in Mayong (Central Assam). In brief, individuals who share personal names are forbidden from addressing or referring to each other by name, and instead must interpellate each other as mita (friend). Through an analysis of names in acts of sorcery and magic, a baptism ceremonial, and nominal modes of address in Mayong, this article demonstrates how confronting a person with a shared name is tantamount to confronting one’s own singular destiny in another body and another time. Alongside an ethnographic theorization of taboo that bridges the unmentionable and untouchable divide, this article further demonstrates how the euphemistic norm of address between name sharers reframes the distinction between kinship and friendship as a matter of with whom one can and should share a mutual destiny. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T03:16:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3f29d339b4674d4c967e9bb3a831ce9c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1960-6060 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T03:16:27Z |
| publisher | Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud |
| record_format | Article |
| series | South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-3f29d339b4674d4c967e9bb3a831ce9c2024-02-12T15:38:48ZengCentre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du SudSouth Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal1960-60601210.4000/samaj.4027Reflections on a Shared Name: Taboo and Destiny in Mayong (Assam)Sean DowdyThis article explores the cosmological entailments of a minor verbal taboo in Mayong (Central Assam). In brief, individuals who share personal names are forbidden from addressing or referring to each other by name, and instead must interpellate each other as mita (friend). Through an analysis of names in acts of sorcery and magic, a baptism ceremonial, and nominal modes of address in Mayong, this article demonstrates how confronting a person with a shared name is tantamount to confronting one’s own singular destiny in another body and another time. Alongside an ethnographic theorization of taboo that bridges the unmentionable and untouchable divide, this article further demonstrates how the euphemistic norm of address between name sharers reframes the distinction between kinship and friendship as a matter of with whom one can and should share a mutual destiny.https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/4027namestaboocosmologyconspecificityfriendshipkinship |
| spellingShingle | Sean Dowdy Reflections on a Shared Name: Taboo and Destiny in Mayong (Assam) South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal names taboo cosmology conspecificity friendship kinship |
| title | Reflections on a Shared Name: Taboo and Destiny in Mayong (Assam) |
| title_full | Reflections on a Shared Name: Taboo and Destiny in Mayong (Assam) |
| title_fullStr | Reflections on a Shared Name: Taboo and Destiny in Mayong (Assam) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reflections on a Shared Name: Taboo and Destiny in Mayong (Assam) |
| title_short | Reflections on a Shared Name: Taboo and Destiny in Mayong (Assam) |
| title_sort | reflections on a shared name taboo and destiny in mayong assam |
| topic | names taboo cosmology conspecificity friendship kinship |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/4027 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT seandowdy reflectionsonasharednametabooanddestinyinmayongassam |